Occupy Oakland October 19, 2011, Taste The Madness

This happens far more in the legacy media than in the alternative press because the former is dominated by the left and the latter tends to be more egalitarian and diverse. This media slant towards progressivism [a more polite term for collectivism] is a proven fact, backed by statistical studies - thanks in large part to the excellent work done by Brent Bozell and the Media Research Center [see for example, http://www.mrc.org/newsdivision/nad.aspx].

When the MSM wants to make the appearance that it's pursuing the ideological questions surrounding OWS, it does so in such a manner as to disguise its real nature, often flailing around journalistically to show the protesters are a varied lot whose motivation spans the political gamut from right to left.

However this chimera evaporates when boots hit the ground and these demonstrations are more clinically examined, as we did yesterday in exploring the week old Occupy Oakland encampment at the city's Frank Ogawa plaza.

Upon a brief glance the motivating spirit of this assemblage of approximately 80-100 small tents and maybe 200 or so individuals seems to be taken from a time capsule circa 1969, peace , love, understanding and lots of dope - nothing especially threatening; generally civil, predominantly college age people enjoying what appears on the surface a non-stop party.

Questioning these folks regarding the reason for their participation will get varying specifics, linked by a common theme.

That theme really centers on the declaration that capitalism has failed, resulting in an "unfair" gap between the top and bottom economic rungs of society. In essence these people are claiming common cause with the poor who have been "victimized" by a system which is inherently unfair.

This is grammar school Marxism despite it often being expressed in a fuzzy, ill-defined manner. It would seem that most reasonably honest reporters [no not going there, it's too easy] would come away with this same impression and that it would be reflected in their journalistic output.

But alas this is not the case, the MSM chose sides a long time ago, at least as far back as the New York Times' Moscow bureau chief Walter Durranty's Pulitzer prize winning cover-up of the horrors of Stalinism.

While one can weave an interesting narrative based upon the seeming vagueness of the protester's motivation, probing a little deeper reveals what we have found over more than 10 years of covering West Coast protests from relatively small ones such as Occupy Oakland to the massive, multi-hundred thousand spectacles which dominated much of the presidency of GW Bush.

All of these public attestations of rage against "the system" have roots which were and are in a more ordered manner, hawked in booths or individually, some free, some for sale.

All of the printed material which was on display at the Occupy Oakland site falls under the heading of Marxist propaganda.

Yes folks, it's right there, undisguised in plain sight, much of it free for the taking. To "serious" reporters however, it might as well be invisible.

The most omnipresent printed material at such gatherings is almost always "Revolution," the official newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party of America. This is the real deal, as unvarnished and in your face as a hob-nailed boot and emblazoned with headlines such as "Revolution Is NOT A Tea Party," something entirely lost by the MSM as it attempts to conflate OWS with the staid Tea Party.

It's either odd, tragic or some combination thereof for Bob Avakian [chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA] to know the difference while the chattering class feigns befuddlement.

With that said we think the below images should suffice to prove our thesis as the evidence is impossible to ignore.